Navistar, TuSimple partner to co-develop SAE Level 4 self-driving semi-trucks

July 15, 2020 | AUVSI News

Navistar International Corporation and TuSimple have entered into a strategic partnership to co-develop SAE Level 4 self-driving semi-trucks targeted for production by 2024.

The strategic partnership is the result of a successful technical relationship between the companies for more than two years. Navistar has also taken a minority stake in TuSimple.

“Navistar’s strategic partnership with TuSimple positions us to be a leader in developing solutions for our customers by leveraging our organizations’ collective expertise to integrate our vehicle design and systems integration capabilities with TuSimple’s innovative autonomous technology,” says Persio Lisboa, president and CEO, Navistar.

“This announcement marks a significant milestone in our development journey with TuSimple and we look forward to furthering our relationship in the months to come.”

A producer of International brand commercial trucks, proprietary diesel engines, and IC Bus brand school and commercial buses, Navistar has more than 100 years’ worth of experience developing commercial vehicles and bringing them to the market under the International and IC Bus brands. The companies say that the program between them will ensure a fully integrated engineering platform that will be ready for mass-production using Navistar’s vehicle manufacturing capabilities.

The fully autonomous trucks will be available for purchase through Navistar’s traditional sales channels in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“TuSimple and Navistar began joint development of pre-production units in 2018 and now we are kicking-off a full go-to-market production program,” says Cheng Lu, president, TuSimple.

“We are honored to be partnered with Navistar. The investment in TuSimple and the partnership with Navistar marks an important milestone for our company. With the combined expertise of Navistar and TuSimple, we have a clear path to commercialize self-driving Class 8 trucks at scale.”

TuSimple operates a fleet of 40 self-driving trucks in the U.S., autonomously shipping freight for companies such as UPS and McLane Company between Arizona and Texas. TuSimple plans to demonstrate completely driverless operations next year.